Corporate Massage

Monday, 10 March 2014

Nutrition - Body Fat

Body Fat and Your
Ideal Weight

All diets and healthy eating plans usually focus on weight
loss, and there is a general acceptance that the closer you are to your ideal
weight, the healthier you will be, the less risk of life-threatening and
dehabilitating diseases. However, weight
is only a small part of the picture.
Your lean muscle tissue is important as well hence along this learning
journey we have stressed the importance of not just making healthier tweaks to
the way you see and eat food but you make time to exercise .* Vital body
organs, such as your heart, liver and kidneys, need to be supported by lean
tissue, as does your whole body and that is why fitness is so important. When we exercise we shape up on the inside as
well as the outside.

Muscles use up more glucose, and therefore calories than fat
meaning that lean muscle burns fat. This
means that if you are heavy but fit; your weight may not be as much as a
problem as you think. On the other hand
if you are thin, but lightweight and lacking in muscle tone you may not be as
fit as you think! That is why today when
we take your measurements and weight/body fat
you can use your body fat percentage to make a more accurate score of
your health than the weight.

Body Fat Guidelines

Visceral Fat
Guidelines

(1-9% = good, 10-14% = Risk, 15-59% = High Risk)

Eat Good Fats, Avoid
Bad Fats

Some fats are essential to health, which is why we have an
instinct to eat fat. The body’s ‘fat
sensors’ are in your mouth – and we are instinctively drawn towards the creamy
textures of fat, sauces, cheese and cream hence fat-free diets being a struggle
for us. There are good fats and bad fats
in food and only when you start to eat “good fats” does your body stop craving
bad fats.

Good Fats

The good fats are essential fats listed on packets as polyunsaturated
and are found in seeds, flaxseeds, grains and oily fish. They include the essential fatty acids
(EFA’s) such as omega-3 and omega-6.
These fats are essential to health and can help you lose weight. There are two reasons for this – firstly your
body craves essential fats and secondly they help your metabolism top work
properly; improve the effectiveness of the brain and the nervous system, they
boost immunity, balance hormones and create healthy skin.

Your body and brain depend on Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential
fats. One quarter of your brain is made
up of Omega-3’s and a lack of essential fats can lead to lower IQ, poor memory
and a tendency to depression. Your
hormone balances changes, possibly leading to mood swings, PMS, sugar cravings
and weight gain. Your skin dries and
your heart and arteries suffer and that’s why these fats are called
essential. The Omega- 3’s not only
boosts your metabolism they reduce the risk of heart disease and sudden heart
attack and halve your risk of ever suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Bad Fats

The “bad fats” are non-essential fats listed on packets as
saturated fats, trans-fats and hydronated fats and can be found in meat, dairy
products, processed, fried and junk foods.
Eating bad fats leaves you unsatisfied, so you’ll find yourself craving
more fats as your body as received the good fats that it needs.

Bad fats feature heavily in the average Western Diet and are
bad news for your heart, your weight and arteries. They contribute to diseases such as cancer,
diabetes and coronary heart diseases as well as heavy weight gain. If you eat all these fats and don’t burn them
off immediately, all your body can do is store them as unhealthy fat. Worst of all are the trans-fats and
hydronated fats as these are the real ugliest - these have been processed,
fried or damaged. When the molecules of
essential fats are altered by food processing or frying they set up a reaction in
the body that can damage the cells most commonly seen when using margarine or
olive oil in cooking and that is why they as well as crisps, biscuits,
ready-meals and fried foods are bad for you.

There is also an in-between fat (mono-unsaturated); omega-9. Olive Oil is a good source of this when
drizzled in small quantities onto food whereas this is nowhere as good for you
as the essential good fats, neither as bad for you as essential bad fats.

Foods to Enjoy

The omega-3 essential fats, found in flax and pumpkin seeds,
and oily cold water fish such as mackerel, herring, salmon and tuna help keep
weight at bay in a number of ways. They
help make hormone-like substances called prostaglands, which help control
metabolism and fat burning. They also
help to limit the potential damage to arteries caused when eating too many bad
fats or sugary bursts of high glucose into the blood. Good sources of fats also include avocados
although limit to ½ per day as with all fats they are calorific too and should
be eaten in moderation.

The omega-6 essential fats, found in hot climate seeds such
as sunflower and sesame, have similar health benefits to the omega 3’s and are
especially good for the skin and maintaining hormone balance, for example
combating pms.